AxoSim Technologies to expand research with $1.7M grant

AxoSim Technologies, a New Orleans-based startup, has received a $1.7 million grant to expand its research aimed at fixing issues in pharmaceutical development.

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AxoSim has developed a tool for pharmaceutical companies – a stem cell-based model companies can use for preclinical testing of new drugs. The firm offers a way to test drugs in a manner that it says is faster and more effective than animal testing. Because they are human cells, testing is much more predictive, said Dr. Lowry Curley, CEO of AxoSim. He founded the company in 2014 alongside Tulane University professor Dr. Michael J. Moore.

Curley said the grant, which was awarded by the National Institutes of Health Small Business Technology Transfer, will go a long way to advance their efforts. AxoSim has focused testing within two different neurodegenerative diseases: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and multiple sclerosis (MS). The grant enables AxoSim to hire four additional employees and buy new supplies for testing.

“That alone will give us more capabilities in the lab to do the research and development we need to bring this technology to a wider audience,” Curley said.

The team will development case studies internally showing that the model works in the manner in which they hypothesize.

Prior to the $1.7 million grant, the local startup had already received $750,000 in grants since its inception. The 11-member team of neuroscientists and biomedical engineers has commercialized a unique benchtop model of the human nervous system. They recently expanded their space at the New Orleans BioInnovation Center to incorporate more testing.

After drugs are tested in labs and by animals, he said the No. 1 reason drugs fail once they are taken by humans is because they are ineffective in humans. The other reason drugs fail is because of adverse side effects, he said.

AxoSim is working to reduce those inefficiencies in the marketplace. AxoSim’s platform involves its trademarked “nerve-on-chip” technology that employs micro-engineering techniques. They developed a 3D cell-based model that mimics living tissue in form and function, their website reads. They start by organizing multi-cellular cultures into 3D organoids. Next, researchers implant organoids into AxoSim’s nerve-on-chip to grow human nerve tissue. Then, they perform clinically relevant nerve conduction tests to measure changes in properties.

Lastly, they study the microscopic structure of the tissues. That allows them to correlate structural changes to functional metrics and gain knowledge into potential processes of action.